Mr. Fixit

It's Tuesday here in Lexington, and, thankfully, the rain has stopped for a few days.

We've had late spring rain in the past, but not to the degree we're seeing it lately.  My wife and I took a trip west to see my mother-in-law Saturday and drove back through some of the heaviest rain I've seen in many years.

If you visit here even semi-regularly, you know that I was displaced from my job at the end of April.  And while I'm looking dilligently for a new position, there's only so much one can do each day toward that goal.

So, as before, I'm using my newly open schedule to get a few things taken care of around here.  Redid the mulch in our backyard shrub beds.  Cleaned the brick wall and patio back there as well.  Cleaned windows, and discovered that we need to replace the one at the front of our home.  Broke down our gas grill to clean it thoroughly.  And so on.

Along the way, I've taken on a few repair jobs as well.  Some of them have been pretty simple, but others have been more than I would have attempted in the past.

Here's an example.  My wife and I traded cars when our youngest grandchild graduated to a full-size car seat, as my wife's car was too small for that seat and the youngest's two growing siblings.  So when I get into "my" car, I try to notice anything that needs attention.  And one of those things was a map light that wasn't working quite right.  Just above the rear-view mirror, it worked when you clicked it on, but it's also supposed to illuminate when you open a door.

Easy fix, I thought, and when we were in western Kentucky Saturday, we had to run to Walmart for my mother-in-law, so we went to the automotive department and I bought bulbs to replace that bad bulb and fix that light.

Sat in the parking lot and did that, but when I went to replace the "good" bulb on the driver's side, all of the lights flashed and then went out.  Uh-oh, now I've done it, I thought.

I hoped it was simply a fuse and the next morning, back in Lexington, I verified that to be the issue.  So I replaced that blown fuse with a new one, and all of the lights worked again.

Except for that "problem" light.

Online research indicated that the plastic switch that determines whether the light is activated manually or automatically is prone to failure, so I figured out what I needed and ordered a pair of them.  They arrived from Amazon the next day (!) and I installed it last night.

Now it works.

So there.

I also recently replaced the gas lifts in the tailgate of this car (a much-loved and heavily driven SUV) and would not have done so without incident had my wife not come out to hold the tailgate up while I did the job.

Not long before that, I repaired a broken remote in a key for this car and successfully reprogrammed it.

So now I'm moving on, as we determined last night that we need to replace the garbage disposal.  I thought there was a spoon or something small in there, but it has a loose part and it'll just get worse if I don't address it soon.  So I will, sometime in the near future.

Meanwhile, the job search continues, as I am presently actively interviewing with several companies for various opportunities.  Keep those fingers cross and continue sending positive energy my way, please!